Charles De Gaulle
Charles De Gaulle ' is a colonel, French theorist of Mass mechanisation and is part of the entourage of Marshal Philippe Pétain. History Early Life Charles de Gaulle is the son of Henri de Gaulle (1848-1932) and his wife Jeanne Maillot (1860-1940). He is the grandson of historian Julien-Philippe de Gaulle and a northern manufacturing entrepreneur. It is marked by family values: legitimist Catholicism, taste for studies and state service (law, administration of tobacco or the army). Charles de Gaulle is a part of his primary studies at the school of the Brothers of Christian schools in the parish of Saint-Thomas-d'Aquin. He has his father as a teacher at the Jesuits. During the political and religious crisis resulting from the laws of 1901 and 1905 which forbids the congregations to teach, the professor de Gaulle founded in Paris in 1907 a free secondary course, the School Louis de Fontanes, and enrolled his son Charles at the French Jesuits in Belgium at the College du Sacré-Coeur installed at the castle of Antoing. The young Charles is fifteen years old when, in 1905, he writes a story in which he describes himself as "General de Gaulle" saving France, a testimony of an early national ambition. Later, he explains to his camp aide Claude Guy having had from his adolescence the conviction of being one day at the head of the State. He was 119th out of 221 at the École militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1908. After a year of preparation at Stanislas College in Paris, he graduated in 1912, ranking 13th, and joined the infantry. He is assigned to the 33rd Infantry Regiment in Arras and is under the orders of Colonel Pétain. The Great War Charles, who was a lieutenant since 1 October 1913, was named captain in January 1915. From his first fight at Dinant on 15 August 1914, he was hit in the leg ("fracture of the fibula by bullets with splinters in the joint") . He then joined the 33rd RI on the Champagne front to command the 7th company. He was again wounded on 10 March 1915, in his left hand, at Mesnil-Les-Hurlus in Champagne. Determined to fight, he disobeyed his superiors by ordering to fire on enemy trenches. This act earned him to be relieved eight days of his duties. Fiery officer, willingly brittle, his intelligence and courage in the face of the fire distinguish him to the point that the commander of the 33rd RI offers him to be his deputy. On 2 March 1916, his regiment was attacked and decimated, destroyed by the enemy defending the village of Douaumont, near Verdun. His company is in jeopardy during this fight and the survivors are surrounded. Trying to make a breakthrough, he is forced by the violence of the fight to jump into a shell hole to protect himself, but Germans follow him and wounded him with a bayonet in his left thigh. Captured by German troops, he is treated and interned. This disappearance at the front is worth to him to be quoted with the order of the army. After a failed escape attempt at Osnabrüc, he was transferred to the Ingolstadt fort in Bavaria, a retaliatory camp for restless prison officers. He meets the future general Georges Catroux, the aviator Roland Garros, the journalist Rémy Roure and Colonel Lucien Nachin. He tries to escape five times, without success during his detention of thirty-two months in a dozen different camps (Osnabruck, Neisse, Sczuczyn, Ingolstadt, fortress Rosenberg (de), military prison Passau, camps of Wurzburg and Magdeburg). He was released after the armistice of 11 November 1920 and found his own the following month. He received the Knight's Cross of the Legion of Honor on 23 July 1921, and the 1914-1920 War Cross with Bronze Star. Theorist of mass mechanization When he returned, Captain de Gaulle was a lecturer in history at the École de Saint-Cyr, before being admitted to the École supérieure de guerre in 1922. In a doctrinal conflict with his superiors whose strategic vision he challenged too much of the defensive and compartmentalized planning of the field, but with the protection of Marshal Pétain, it is poorly noted, but continues to have a promising reputation. In 1925, he was seconded to the staff of Marshal Pétain, vice-president of the Supreme Council of War. The latter imposed him as a lecturer at the War School and asked him to prepare the writing of a book on the history of the soldier. In 1927, in the presence of Marshal Pétain, he presented at the War School three remarkable lectures, respectively titled: "The action of war and the leader", "Of the character", and finally "Of the prestige". Promoted battalion commander on 25 September 1927, he left the following month for Trier to take command of the 19th Battalion of Foot Hunters (BCP). He leads an energetic command there and continues his lectures as in his next post. In November 1929, he was posted to the Levant Troops Staff in Beirut where he was responsible for the 2nd and 3rd offices (military intelligence and operations). Accompanied by his family, he remained there until November 1931. In the circle of officers of Beirut, he gave lectures on the French army; he is also the author of a pamphlet entitled "The Kurdish Question" published in 1930 by the Imprimerie du Bureau Topographique du Levant. Thanks to the support of Marshal Pétain, he was assigned in November 1931 to the General Secretariat of National Defense in Paris. This new position is crucial because it is an opportunity to learn about the affairs of the state, since it is responsible in particular for working on the military bill. On 25 December 1933, he was promoted to lieutenant-colonel Aspect of the theory of Mass mechanization 3 aspect of de Gaulle's theory are put forward: # Motorized Infantry # Concentration and air superiority # The Tanks This modern doctrine is frowned upon by members of the old guard, although De Gaulle says that this doctrine will ensure a quick victory for France with limited losses. A sort of '"Lightning War" in short. Political position Influence by French nationalist thinkers of the nineteenth century, such as Paul Déroulede, Charle Peguy, Maurice Barrés and Charles Maurras (by his father). Charle De Gaulle to an authoritarian and nationalist vision of power. He shares the thoughts of Philippe Pétain and François de La Rocque on centralization and strengthening of executive power. Although winner of the Great War, he thinks that the parliamentary system is obsolete, and that a reform is necessary. Literature works *La Discorde Chez l'Ennemi (1924) *Histoire des Troupes du Levant (1931) *Le Fil de l'Épée (1932) *Vers l'Armée de Métier (1934 Category:People